KZ-Aussenlager Langenhorn Plaque

In September 1944, a chilling chapter unfolded at the KZ-Aussenlager Langenhorn. The echoes of that history still resonate here, at Essener Strasse. The KZ-Aussenlager Langenhorn, a women’s satellite camp of Neuengamme concentration camp, became a place of forced labor and suffering. Initially, 500 Jewish women, many barely adults, arrived from Stutthof. They came from Lithuania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. They were housed in two hastily built huts next to the “Ostarbeiterlager Tannenkoppel”. Imagine their fear, their uncertainty, as they were thrust into this grim reality. The KZ-Aussenlager Langenhorn stood as a stark reminder of the Nazi regime’s brutality. These women became cogs in the war machine, forced to work at the Hanseatische Kettenwerke armaments factory. They also worked at a Messap branch on Schanzenstraße, producing weapons and ammunition. In the war’s waning days, some were even made to dig foundations for prefabricated housing. In March 1945, another 250 women arrived. These were Sinti and Roma women, and others labeled “criminals” by the SS, from Ravensbrück. They too were forced into the brutal labor regime of the KZ-Aussenlager Langenhorn. The SS evacuated the camp in early April 1945, sending most to Bergen-Belsen and others to the Sasel satellite camp. However, the story of the KZ-Aussenlager Langenhorn doesn’t end there. Just two weeks later, exhausted women from the Helmstedt-Beendorf camp arrived. Nine perished here, their names recorded in the Langenhorn death register. The survivors were moved to Hamburg-Eidelstedt just before liberation. A memorial stone and plaque now stand here, on Essener Strasse. They mark the location of this tragic chapter. The KZ-Aussenlager Langenhorn stands as a testament to the resilience of these women. It also stands as a sobering reminder of the horrors of war.